navigation systems

My wife and I just enjoyed a long holiday weekend with my in-laws. The visit required a, now routine, trip of roughly 180 miles each way. It's a pretty easy drive yet we will still plug in our GPS receiver, just in case we get held up in traffic and want to find a substitute route, quickly.

This is aided now by free(*) traffic notice and avoidance. It has both hit and missed because it is dependent upon traffic condition reporting being timely and actually available for the roads we're on. (*Free means advertiser supported, but the -one- tiny repeat ad I've ever seen pop up is remarkably unobtrusive and a very easily accepted price to pay for the service.)

Truth be told, the unit is one of two new ones I bought recently; a matching pair for each of our cars. The free traffic feature was a big attraction, and the wide screen and higher speed refresh rate of the touchscreen are appreciated. These two new units replace an older, smaller model that still performed like new but did not offer the traffic service.

I also like that the little devices seem to have been actually engineered to be used in cars with people driving them.

You see, on the trip home I happened to notice quite a number of other drivers using GPS systems. The sun had set and the dark sky helped make other GPSes stand out, both portable like mine and integrated into the dashboards. I am a bigger fan of the former. Not only are they cheaper and easier to update, but they are portable and far more useful when traveling... particularly when in a rented car in a very unfamiliar place. That expensive big screen option in your own dash does you no good in the long-term garage at the airport back home.

What I noticed that evening in the passenger seat was another silver bullet for the cheaper/better portables; contrast. Perhaps it's my chemotherapy making me sensitive to light, but I never really have liked lots of bright light close to my eyes when I am driving at night. I can see outside the car much better when the lights inside are dimmed. If I am driving, seeing what's outside the car is more important.

The smaller screen of the portables is probably one of those characteristics that the owners of the big in-dash screens coo back to themselves after paying so much more. But that big screen is friggin' bright! In one car, a Cadillac no less, the big fat screen cast so much light on the occupants on the car I thought one of their doors was open. Meanwhile, the smaller screened units out there did not scream for so much attention.

And that's really the point of a GPS receiver, right? Ask it to tell you where to go and it will politely and concisely point the way. At the point that a driving aid distracts drivers from the road, a line has been crossed.

This is where I mention my preference for Garmin and Navteq maps as well. The maps are simple, almost cartoon-like, and presented in, here's that word again, high contrast that I find very easy to understand at a quick glance and then my eyes are back outside the car. I've seen the maps from TomTom and they're okay. The el cheapo brand GPS receivers... are cheap for a reason.

Garmin is not the perfect manufacturer though. I am not happy with their -vast- array of models, most of which just seem to differ on whether or not they offer an (uneccessary) MP3 player or can play pictures from your camera cards. I am also not happy with their policy of planned obsolecense with each model year. Updates are not free after a certain point in time, but the costs of new data are now close if not greater than the cost of some of their new -hardware-. I was perfectly happy with my traffic-less model except that fresh maps were priced higher than I felt was reasonable.

Hmm... this post should have been more cynical. ;)

iCrap

It has been a loooooong time since I've posted on this blog. this one was just too juicy to let slip by and, since it's got nothing to do with my cancer, I've chosen to dust this blog off and air some righteous indignation.

Future topics may include career politics (in honor of Ted Kennedy who finally got his due), welfare/universal healthcare, the extremes of left/right politics (closely tied to career politics), big box chain restaurants, the proliferation of dairy products, anything Apple that sucks (sorry for the double negative), the crap cars known as hybrids and the social elite who drive them, and my continuing series on poor drivers and the nonsense they post on the Internet.

Meanwhile, enjoy the new post.



The Apple otaku have been spun back into a frenzy again today. Their own, personal, Jesus, Steve Jobs announced the latest (yawn) iTunes, iPod, and iCrap to a waiting mass of social elites, starving for another Apple-branded Thing and they got it.

The discerning public (known as Those People by the iLeet) yawned in response to another Walkman and a software update that should have just popped up on screen when the old version detected a new one. The truly desirable Apple device is still chained to a single service provider. Apple's opinion of market choice seems to extend no further than the color of your little Walkman...

No, the only really noteworthy portion of yesterdays iLove-in is the groundbreaking new features of the nano. Bear with me here. The nano now features a video camera! Ooh, and a pedometer! And an FM tuner! And, what's this? Genius Mixing! Fabulous!

In my own particular order, here's the rub. Genius Mixing is nothing more than shuffling or random track selection that even the earliest CD players have been doing for decades. Remember the CD? It came out the year after the Macintosh. Yeah, Genius Mixing is that old.

The pedometer is nice because, let's face it, the Walkman was great for taking tunes along on a walk or a run. But let's also face this; you don't really need a gadget to tell you how far you walked. If you're training for a marathon, great, but unless you're being graded on how much you exercise, you don't need it. (I heard a radio news story about a college that is actually doing this now, but I say let the college figure out how to record the workouts. Or, gasp, use the existing Nike+ widget for iPods!)

With amazing lack of vision, iPods, from the very start have only provided their users with patently stupid earbuds. Sitting still with a pair of those things almost perched in your ears is an exercise in Zen patience. Few of us have it so we suffer with imbalanced sound and, ultimately, pain in our ears from having had to jam the damned 'buds into some acceptable position that keeps them from falling out and maybe sounds okay. Try jogging and keeping those stupid things in place. Don't break a sweat though or abandon all hope.

The nano should be heavier to at least provide some beneficial resistance training for having to exercise with a Walkman that can't be listened to. Five points from Applepuff House; the earbuds for the Walkman sucked too so they could have tried to invent -something- new instead of copying Sony thirty years on.

At least while you're out exercising you too might be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment to capture the latest Youtube video or breaking CNN/Fox news clip.

I hear JJ Abrams has first rights of refusal to all first person iPod nano video journalism for his next flop, er, film. The next Blair Witch and Cloverfield are in your hands, iLeet!

Which brings me to the FM tuner; a feature first found on, you guessed it, the Walkman... thirty years ago.

Walkmans could record too! And now so can the nano. Almost. The video camera records (presumably) and will let you violate your agreement not to videotape that rock concert or feature film your ticket got you in to see. The nano can now pause and rewind fifteen minutes back into broadcast radio... but not record it indefinitely. Oh no, that would circumvent your having to visit the iTunes Store and purchase that song.

Sorry, budding journalists, you're stuck with your old fashioned recorders for those interviews but definitely pick up a nano so you can video record your subject. Poorly. Ah, now I'm being unfair.

Fortunately the new nano also plays video, even that which you haven't recorded yourself, so now you too can socially isolate yourself like the iPod video player owners of yesterday. Forgive me, but who the hell watches videos on such tiny screens? Are you that starved for entertainment? Stupid question... you've got those stupid earbuds crammed in your ears... that should have been my first clue.

Carry on. Apple will soon have a whole line of outdoor gear for camping outside their stores for their next line of Walkman players. Be sure to get the autographed U2 sleeping bag and post on facebook from your iPhone as soon as you've got your fix. While you're busy feeling superior, the rest of us will be sleeping comfortably with money in our accounts for the really useful Next Best Thing.

fresh meat

This is a special time. With the new car comes a whole new circle of forums for trading information. The age of the car means the owner community out there is pretty crusty too; battle-scarred sharks in waters they are very intimate. In swims a noob (me) immediately comfortable with the format though not familiar with all of the faces. He gnaws on a few tough questions and asserts his power cautiously, sniffing around for the leaders of the pack. A few loudmouths have left plenty of evidence behind in old posts that they talk a big game but are generally full of **it. Then there's me; cocksure, willing to wager despite a meager pile of chips in my number of posts pot. Yeah, this is a special time, the time I test my mettle a fit my way in. Won't change me though... I fully intend to follow my plan with the car no matter what the slammed, glammed, blinged, and now concours quality restored crowd may think.

175- 174 - 176 - 175 - 174 - 175

Those, my dear readers, are heckaslammin' scrumdillyiciously awesome numbers!

My good friends at Induktion Motorsports did me the honor of taking the little green car under their wing for a thorough checkup. I asked for an honest assessment of what the car needs to become a reliable little track chariot and I got their reply...

- swaybar endlinks should be replaced - ordering them both this weekend
- tie rod ends are bad - I'm going for full rods banking on the inner segments being tired
- front control arm bushing is bad - ordering/upgrading both sides to offset M3's
- right front wheel bearing is bad - also ordering a new one for the left
- shocks/struts seem to be blown - holding off here because A) the car drives great and B) the SpecE30 suspension probably won't pass state inspection... I am trying not to ever put a working stock kit back on this car
- rear diff is leaking - gotta see if I can do that or if I should shop it
- slave cylinder is leaking - see above
- oil drain plug and filter leaking - probably a new crush washer and the revised check valve o-ring are needed

But that's it. :o

Nothing about either subframe nor any of the rear bushings or rear shock mounts (common problem areas in this vintage). They'll get replaced in time, but what nice news not to have to do it right away.

I've been tickled to find oodles of parts sources so I can comparison shop. (It's a guy thing) Two or three standouts have appeared with great prices for all of the little things to refresh. In tidy little chunks too. All of the front suspension will come from my old friends at Zygmunt Motors whom were so good to my Passat. Bavarian Autosport comes recommended and they will supply some critical brake, timing, and cooling parts. Finally, the (in)famous Pelican Parts will cover my rear wheel works and ignition pieces. I like finding good prices for the best stuff!

Meanwhile, Zygmunt has the SpecE30 shocks and springs as a kit for a radically low price. I need to jump on it as soon as the last of the Cobra parts gets shipped.

Oh yeah, all the parts I'd been collecting for the Factory Five kit (another post for another time) have nearly recouped all of the cost of the BMW. :o

It's been a verrrrrry good week.

Now I've gone and done it...

It was two summers ago that I was hip deep in the mud of Life. Two years of marriage and a little less than that in a new house. I'd been track driving off and on for about three years and had been talking to a good friend about partnering on a car we could both afford to lose. Neither of us wanted to be stuck riding the bus to work. It is the American Way, doncha know?

My loving wife had consented, but my buddy jumped off on a car of his own. So here I was with the green light and nothing to step on. I tripped over an IT-prepped Rabbit only a few hundred miles away, with a trailer, and crates full of spares. Honey? Yesss....

Then lightning struck. Literally. Within hours of cutting a certified check and sending a registered letter to the car owner, our new house was on fire. Only by Grace was the house not more seriously damaged, but the toy track car was definitely on hold.

Fast forward almost two years through my wife getting a new truck, both of us getting a new dog, and that gnawing of my own that resulted in my new GTI. Track days continued and were that much more fun with the fast, but there is still this nagging feeling.

Half the reason for a dedicated track toy was the economic consequences of making a big mistake in the daily driver. I was getting smoother and faster in my old car and those experiences were built upon in the new car. It's a busload of fun too. But if I made a big mistake, I could very quickly wind up begging a ride to work. Compound that with a lien on the GTI (presently) and I could be begging for a ride -and- still paying for the car I couldn't drive.

The toy car makes its second appearance.

I'd still passively looked for that bargain track-ready car whose driver was in dire need of cash and letting go for pennies. Maybe you are too and I can tell you they are out there. I'd found Factory Five Racing too and thought it would be a hoot to build my own 5.0l Ford-powered Cobra replica. The reality there is too similar to that of crashing the GTI and saving the money up was taking a long time. But the money was being saved and some parts were bought as other great deals came and went.

A new spec racing series within N.A.S.A. debuted about the time the smoke was clearning from my house; Spec E30. That's the E30 model BMW 3-series cars kitted for inexpensive campaigning. You see, SPECified go-fast parts is effectively a budget cap that contains racers to a limited set of modifications and upgrades. It also makes for very evenly matched cars and results in a more genuine driver v driver comparison of speed.

I have no intentions of competing. For my money, open track days and schools/clinics net me more seat time on the track than racing does. :gasp: I may try time trials, but I will be looking to the SpecE30 results to compare myself to the guys racing door to door. Otherwise I'm just having fun.

Having? As in you're able to go do that? Did you buy another car?

Yes, the cat is out of the bag. I did buy a '91 BMW 325i coupe.




It's a very strong donor and quite nicely matches up to the power:weight ratio of a Factory Five Spec Challenge car (another spec series for Cobra replicas)... but it is a tenth of the price. Even less for what I paid. I had been planning a $25-30K budget for a Factory Five, but the BMW cost me $1400. Title, taxes, tags, and insurance won't even break the $2000 mark. A packaged SpecE30 prep kit with all of the build parts is $2500. For less than five grand, I will have a rip-roaring BMW track toy.

But that's in the future and probably next year. For now I'm following some wise advice to make the car safe, make it reliable, and then make it fast. In that order. First up will be the state safety inspection which I think the car is ready to pass.

Next will be reliability. Right away I want fresh fluids, fresh belts, a new waterpump, thermostat, timing belt, and idler, fresh hoses, new plugs, cap, and rotor, clean filters (air and fuel), new wheel bearings, new parking brake shoes, and all new bushings. Together, these parts will probably cost several hundred dollars. They will give the car a completely new lease on life... and it already runs very strong with a new clutch, young transmission, and new brakes. Plus, not a thing I've listed isn't something I cannot do myself.

Finally, the fast stuff. This is where I can take the time to get the car fully prepared and learn some of the same things I felt the Factory Five experience would teach me (except in a car I can fit into!). I will follow the SpecE30 rules which are very concise; very little of them have I not understood. My goal will be a track-ready car that can still be driven on the street and not pollute the environment. That is another big plus for SpecE30 too. I'm looking forward to the experience!

mean?

I've been told my blog is mean. As in I'm mean. Mean is a funy word. Even moreso now that I've typed it four times in a row. (You missed the post title) :wink:

Some might read and see the little postscript tacked onto that first paragraph above and think, "Yeah, that was mean. Why did you have to jab at me, your reader, whom at first saw only three 'means' but missed the post title? Yeah, they were right. Your blog is mean, dude." Okay, so I apologize for being mean. It is who I am though and it is not intentional. It's just how the stream of my thoughts currently pass through my set of output filters and through my fingertips to the keys. Believe me, my backspace key gets plenty of use as I edit on the fly.

There are the innocent who probably don't deserve to be dressed down; the lost out of towner more interested in their map than the green light and the traffic moving past them through an intersection. (Pull over. Get your bearings. Read the map somewhere other than in traffic.) But then there are the guilty; the immortal, infallible, know-it-all-at-age-18 morons who swear they're not hurting anyone but maybe themselves with the stupid things they brag about. (Get a clue. I was you.) I have few other outlets to directly blast these nuisances so I choose here. Mean? Sure. I'll give you that. Therapeutic? Definitely.

You see, it's not having the feeling that is wrong but what one does with a feeling that might be. Road Rage is a plague amongst drivers and there is no drug to cure it. Only self-control and therapy to express those feelings some other way have helped. I get my speed jollies at track days. The unintended side effect has been a sensation of more danger on public roads with all manner of crap close to the roads and streets compounded by traffic filled with frustrated, lesser-skilled drivers.

It was sobering to me to realize the vast majority of people I drive alongside have had no additional driver training since (gulp) highschool... back when we were all pre-occupied with being teenagers. Hormones raging, social circles expanding at different rates, peer pressure, parent pressure, reality so unlike Mtv enough to induce depression. This was the right time to learn how to drive? The conspiracy theorist in me would hypothesize that the system generates these barely-able-to drivers to guarantee a source of traffic revenue for future generations and keeps the auto repair segment booming. Lord knows we don't educate our teens to spend wisely or invest while inundating them with advertising for new cars and tolerating movies and tv shows where cars mean popularity. Am I being mean again?

I saw a pale horse...

You read it here first, The End is Nigh.

I know I'm getting older because, as many of the postings below allude to, I daily grow more and more frustrated with the "car culture" of younger drivers. Movies like The Fast and Furious and pathetic excuses for "tuner" magazines are the rock 'n' roll rubbish to my generation of car guys. I do not know how my grandparents coped until rock music was proven not to be the end of all things wholesome for my parents. They'd hate what I listen to...

So The End must be just around the corner with what I've witnessed lately.

This track season is well under way and I've put on the cap of promotions for my local SCCA chapter's new track driving program. It was a natural extension of something I was already doing on my own trying to appeal to driver friends. Having the program to pump gives me something I can immediately steer new drivers too once I get their interest. Gaining their interest has been a combination of simply sharing my experiences and making logical arguments for experience before expenditure.

Too many drivers in the web forums poast (pun intended) about their latest "mod" to their car only to be answered by similarly attention-starved wannabes congratulating them on the money they've spent. Big whoop. We all know you did it to impress the girls... I'm old enough and fed up enough to call you on it.

But lo and behold I'm not the only one saying so any more! I've got some friends whom have joined the choir, but now I'm seeing new screennames posting the same kinds of things. Adjustable suspension kits need to be tuned once they're installed. Big brakes are actually slower on the street than stock. Fart-can exhaust systems make noise while often killing torque. Heavy wheels drink gas and increase stopping distances... There's a wave of safety conscious advice out there!

And it doesn't stop with the mods either. Others are actually sharing their track experiences too! From out of the woodwork, young drivers are participating in performance driving events, learning from them, and encouraging others to do it too! WOW!

A week ago I drove a weekend-long event that a geat number of first-timers also attended. Several drivers dropped by my paddock to say hello and thank me for sharing my experience. They told me it was my writing that had given them the confidence to try it themselves. They'd faced their fears and found nothing to be afraid of and they wanted me to know. I was humbled. Really humbled. I was glad these guys had tasted track driving for themselves and it left me feeling these guys would leave safer on the streets I drive. I can't wait until they start bringing their friends.